IP with DSL?

Question

I have Verizon DSL
with a westell modem
to see my properies, i type in a number in ip form in my browser, and i see connection summery and stuff. Their i see 3 ip's
PPP
Primary DNS
Secondary DNS
--
if i go to command prompt and type in ipconfig i see
IP Address
Subnet Mask
Default Gateway

the PPP is the same that sites like whatismyip.org provide

the ip adress in command prompt is what programs like vnc show

can you explain all of these

by the way, none of the ips in the modem config and command prompt match up

Answer 1

PPP = "Point to Point Protocol" This is more or less the connection language used between the two network points (between server and PC, or PC to PC).

IP Address = your computer's unique server-assigned network address

Subnet Mask = I'll be honest, I don't know what that is. It is nearly always "255.255.255.0". I've rarely seen it any different and don't know why/why not.

Default Gateway = IP address of the router/network you are connected to. will have the same starting sequence as your own IP address, with the last digits being unique to you.

DNS = "Domain Name Server" A DNS server is one of many (hundreds? thousands?) of servers worldwide that have tables to cross-reference a website's "domain name" (like "Yahoo.com') to it's IP address (111.222.3.4, for example). Back in the early days of the internet you had to know the specific numeric address of a server/website to connect to it. Now you only have to know the name and a DNS server will translate it for you. A Secondary DNS server is just a backup to the primary in the event one is not online or for some other reason (network traffic, etc) you can't connect.

Hope that answers your questions! There are probably better technical explanations, but that's about as plain as I can make it so it's understandable! ;-)